Darius' Secret
by Venea Taur
Summary: Liam and Grace stumble upon a secret of Darius'.


A/N: I'm not sure when this would be set, but it should at least come after episode 5. They don't have a lot of downtime in the show, but for the sake of fan fiction, let's pretend that they do. Please read, relax, and enjoy.

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Darius' Secret

Liam was in the middle of updating Darius on the progress with the EmDrive when he saw the man check his phone. He held back a sigh, but only because Darius was his boss. The older man checked his phone more often than some undergrads he tutored. Liam was ready to move to his next point when Darius cursed quietly. It wasn't often the man cursed, so Liam knew it had to be something important.

"What's wrong," he asked, taking a step closer to Darius.

"Um… nothing." Darius put his phone back in his pocket and looked up, startled. "I have to go take care of something."

"Right now?"

"Yes, it's important. I'll be back in a few hours."

With that, Darius was gone, almost jogging up to the treehouse.

*Salvation*

"Where is he," Grace asked, coming behind Liam, who jumped and nearly dropped what he was working on.

"Wh… what?" Liam turned to face Grace. She looked annoyed.

"Where is Darius?"

"In the treehouse. Why? What's wrong?"

"I've been trying to reach him, but he's not answering his phone."

"Something I can help with?"

"No, I need him for this."

"Well, shall we go find him? He was supposed to be back a couple hours ago. I had an update for him on the project and he vanished in the middle of it."

The two got on the elevator that would take them to the Treehouse. They were surprised to find Darius not in the main room when the door opened.

"TESS, where is Darius," Grace asked, stepping into the main room with Liam as they both glanced around for any sign of the tech billionaire.

"Darius is in the kitchen," TESS answered.

"The kitchen?" Liam and Grace looked at each other, puzzled.

"What could he be doing in there," Grace asked. The two began to walk to the kitchen.

"Maybe he's getting something to eat?" Liam shrugged his shoulders.

As they grew closer, they heard music coming from the kitchen, mingled with the sound of a machine running. Turning the corner to step fully into the kitchen, they saw Darius, swaying slightly in time with the music, in a well-used apron, with his back facing them while he added ingredients to the bowl of the stand mixer. On the island behind him, were four perfectly baked cakes sitting on cooling racks and a large plate ready for assembling the cake.

"He bakes?" Liam turned to Grace. She shrugged her shoulders and walked up to the man, who was too caught up in his work and the music to notice them. It was really the calmest and most at ease she'd seen him. Still, she needed to talk with him and so tapped him on the shoulder. It was his turn to jump in shock, sending the bowl of powdered sugar out of his hands and clattering to the floor in a white, powdery mess. He turned around to see Grace and Liam standing in the kitchen.

"What are you two doing here?" He spoke loudly to be heard over the noise of the mixer.

"We could ask the same question," Liam countered.

"I'm baking. I thought that would be obvious."

"Since," Grace paused and turned off the mixer.

"I was working on that." Darius gave her an irritated look.

"Since when do you bake," Grace asked, ignoring the look Darius was giving her.

"For years," Darius and moved to turn the mixer back on. Grace stopped him with a hand over the lever.

"Why," Liam asked. Darius looked at both of them. Seeing curiosity in both of their faces, he sighed. This was not the most precious of secrets but it was something dear to him.

"I've baked since I was a child. My mother loved baking and it was something that we could both connect with. There wasn't a whole lot of things that we both enjoyed. Baking happened to be one of them. Now, what's going on that you both decided to interrupt me."

"Darius," TESS interrupted, "the delivery company has requested a change in pick up time to 10 am tomorrow morning."

"Will that interfere with the schedule, TESS?"

"No, entries must be in by noon, so that will leave plenty of time for the cake to arrive."

"Alright. Tell them that's fine and make a note of the change."

"Entering some kind of contest," Grace teased, smiling.

Darius sighed and rubbed his hand on his forehead, smearing it with remnants of powdered sugar.

"Yes, I'm entering the county fair bake-off contest. I do every year."

"Every year?" Liam raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"And do they know it's you," Grace asked.

"No, of course not. I use a fake name and have any prizes sent to a P.O. box, to be donated to after school programs if there's anything of value attached."

"Prizes?" Liam chuckled weakly. "You mean you actually win these things?"

"You don't think I'd enter if I wasn't any good, do you? I've been baking since I was a child."

"How often do you win," Grace asked, curiosity overriding her initial reason for coming.

"Not every time, but often enough that they know my name."

"You mean your fake name," Liam said.

"Of course."

"And what is your fake name," Grace asked, smiling slightly.

"René d'Herblay," Darius said quietly.

"You named yourself after one of the Musketeers?" She didn't know whether to laugh or stare at him in disbelief.

"What, I thought it fit." Darius' voice rose as he defended himself.

"Longer hair and more of a beard and mustache instead of this five o'clock shadow thing and maybe," Grace said, appraising his features, trying to picture him with much more hair. He might be able to pull it off, she thought.

"Now that's rather cliche, isn't it? I doubt they all had long hair and beards. Not all men can grow facial hair. I'm sure one or two of them were left with peach fuzz in place of proper facial hair."

"I agree with Grace. You're just not the type. I can't see you riding around saving damsels in distress and getting into sword fights," Liam said.

"I don't know about that." He looked away from them both, glancing at a random picture on the wall on the other side of the kitchen. "Tess always called me her knight in shining armor."

"And how old was she," Liam countered.

"We were probably twelve at the time."

"Look, you might've been gallant to her, but I still can't see you riding around like a swashbuckling musketeer," Grace said with a smile. She'd noticed the slight hurt in his eyes when they picked on him about Tess and wanted to smooth over the hurt.

"So, what is it that got the both up here, interrupting my work."

"Harris is asking for a status update," Grace said, taking his cue to end the previous discussion.

"I've written up the progress so far, he can read that if he wants to know. And Liam can answer any questions he might have."

"What? No, no. I can't do that." Liam shook his head.

"Sure, you can. You were briefing me earlier on it, weren't you?" Darius clapped a powdered sugar covered hand on his shoulder.

"That was you. I can't report to Harris."

"It really should be you, Darius," Grace said.

"Well, it's going to have to wait, then. I'm in the middle of work here. Just tell Harris I'm tinkering away in the kitchen and he'll understand."

"He knows?"

"Of course. I made the cake for his wedding."

"You made a wedding cake?"

"They didn't have a lot of money. And I didn't know what to get them, so I offered to make the cake."

"So, you're a good baker," Liam asked.

"Maybe you're not the brightest MIT can offer. Yes, I'm good. I wouldn't bake for others if I wasn't. René d'Herblay has a reputation to uphold," Darius added with a smile.

"So, can we have some of the cake?"

"No, the cake is for the contest. I do have some cookies on the other counter if you want them." Darius pointed to a Tupperware container half filled with cookies. "Now, would you both let me get back to work."

Without further comment, the two opened the container and pulled out a cookie each. They looked like chocolate chip cookies and tasted of peanut butter when they took a bite. Liam quickly devoured his and grabbed another.

"You made these?" He said around a mouth full.

"Yes," Darius said absently. He was trying to clean up the mess of powdered sugar.

"There's peanut butter in here, right," Grace asked. She'd finished her first cookie and had another in hand.

"They are dark chocolate, oatmeal, peanut butter chip peanut butter cookies. My own concoction. Lazlo and Tess always enjoyed when I'd make them."

"They're amazing," Liam said with another mouthful. He was onto his third cookie, Darius noticed. He was going to have a talk to him about his eating habits. Coffee and sugar were not good, not even for former grad students who could now afford so much more because their boss knew the meager wages a grad student earned.

"I'm glad you like them. Do try to save me at least one or two. I quite enjoy them myself."

Liam nodded, continuing to eat as Darius finally got back to work. Grace took a moment to text Harris that Darius was busy in the kitchen and she was unavoidably detained in an urgent matter and that the meeting would have to wait until later. She also sneaked a couple cookies in her purse for him, knowing that despite the animosity between the two men Darius wouldn't mind.

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A/N: In case there is confusion, René d'Herblay is Aramis from _The Musketeers_ , who is played by the same actor as Darius. I couldn't help but poke a little fun.


End file.
